Why Franchise Players Stayed with Original Team

20Dec

I reviewed a couple of recent situations when top NBA stars left team which had drafted them so it was a natural follow-up to take a look at the other side of this coin: what GMs had to do to keep their franchise players?
Rules are the same as in previous post so I won’t repeat them.

Let’s start with probably the most popular and the most often cited case…

Move, Decision, Trade

Verdict

Predictable?

Notes

Tim Duncan re-signed for 7-year max

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Robert Horry signed for 2 yrs

WIN

YES

Productive and cheap

Hedo Turkoglu acquired for Danny Ferry

WIN

YES

Got better player

Beno Udrih drafted at #28

WASH

NO

Future rotation player late in draft [win] but on a different team for nothing [fail]

Bruce Bowen resigned for 4yrs

WIN

NO

Productivity close to his salary

Brent Barry resigned for 4yrs

Huge WIN

YES

Above average advanced stats on avg salary

Manu Ginobili resigned for 6yrs

Huge WIN

YES

All-Star for less than 10M$/y, stayed on a team which drafted him

Tony Parker resigned for 6yrs

Huge WIN

YES

All-Star for 11M$/y, stayed on a team which drafted him

Nazr Mohammed acquired for Malik Rose, pick #30 & #29

Huge WIN

YES

Got better player with shorter contract for weak draft picks

Ian Mahinmi drafted at #28

WASH

NO

Productive but in very limited minutes, now on a different team but still in the NBA

Tim Duncan is still under contract with Spurs & will probably finish his career there

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I was aware of Spurs’ front office excellence… but that review made me realize I actually underrated them!
In the last 8 years they signed only TWO really bad contracts [for a total of 13M$!] and they made TWO really bad decisions [trading Scola, Jefferson’s extension and both of them happened at least partially because of the luxury tax].

On the other hand note how many quality players they drafted at lower slots or signed for cheap and more importantly how they handled contracts for role-players… Man, it was really refreshing to review GM who actually knew what he was doing…

Overall batting average for their decisions was around 0.500 so twice as high as teams which lost their franchise players and even their mistakes were way smaller in impact on payroll.

Looked like a win before trade of Chris Paul, now just a delay for pick

Kevin Durant re-signed for 5yrs

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We have to acknowledge that Presti had some luck with Durant [it was Blazers’ choice] and we have to monitor his future moves because it will get harder from now due to expectations and max extensions but you can’t write a better story about rebuilding, preserving cap space and acquiring assets than Thunder’s recent history.

Seriously, I’m still in awe about triple-combo move
“Leaving Rashard Lewis -> few months of Kurt Thomas -> 3 draft picks”.
I mean that kind of steals are hard to pull off even in a virtual games let alone in the real world.

Also note that this list doesn’t include “much needed good center for their two biggest mistakes” trade which happened after Durant signed an extension but it ultimately may become the most spectacular Presti’s move of them all… and even without it in that period he had a batting average around 0.58!

Those were guides what to do in a small-market to keep franchise players but fortunately recent history provided another blueprint: for big spenders…

* so far though has a huge downside and will probably end up as a fail

Shannon Brown re-signed for 2yrs

WIN

YES

Solid & cheap backup

Lamar Odom re-signed for 4-years

Huge WIN

YES

Productivity better than his salary, allegedly wanted to stay in LA

Pau Gasol re-signed for 3-years

WIN

YES

Expensive but top-notch big man

Kobe Bryant re-signed for 3-years

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Overall batting average of 0.523 is not too shabby but I think there’s a devil in the details because Lakers made the same mistakes as Raptors, Magic, Cavs, TWolves & Hornets with overpaying role-players… but they found more value with low-end draft picks to counter wasted money and more importantly their trades weren’t just to rearrange chairs, they made a HUGE difference.

Again overall batting average around 0.533 is great but doesn’t tell the whole story.
Mavs were very unique in one way: they made a lot of typical mistakes… but they very quickly realised it and traded them to unsuspected bottom-feeder… That part is actually amazing, for example in the last 2 years cash-strapped Bobcats bailed out rich Mavs TWICE!
Also in contrast to teams which lost their franchise players Mavs find a lot of value late in the draft and thanks to bargain shopping which is a nice segue to summary…

To sum up this topic, here’s a guide how to keep your franchise player:

1) Always try to find cheap and solid players. I mean non-stop – late in the draft, undrafted players, in bargain bin of free agency etc. It not only shows you know what are you doing to your star but more importantly it makes your team better and leaves cap space and money for other moves,

2) It’s OK to acquire more salaries in trades as long as you can bet your job that you got significantly better players in return,

3) Take full advantage of teams with poor GMs and don’t be afraid to offer them ridiculously lopsided offers, once in a couple of years they will accept it

Simple, right? And to answer the most fundamental question…

TO KEEP YOUR FRANCHISE PLAYER MAKE GOOD DECISIONS!

Would you prefer to work in a place where your boss knows what he is doing or in a place where he doesn’t and you would have to cover all his mistakes?